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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Ekurhuleni is deeply disappointed in the EFF Speaker, Cllr Tshivhenga for holding the council hostage by postponing a vitally important council meeting to next year.

Last week Thursday, the EFF Speaker adjourned the Ordinary Council sitting after EFF thugs violently assaulted DA caucus members, shoving them to the ground and mercilessly kicking them. Sadly, while this brutality was occurring, the EFF Speaker sat idle.

The EFF Speaker did nothing to retain order, decorum nor protect DA Councillors, she instead adjourned the meeting – stating a new meeting will sit in seven days. With the seventh day lapsing today, the EFF Speaker sent out a notice stating the next meeting will sit in due course.

The DA has always maintained that there is far more sinister matter at play, as the EFF are not happy with an item on the council agenda known as the ‘Institutional Review’. This item seeks to establish the staff compliment of the entire municipality. The EFF are unhappy with the positions created within the proposed structure. Instead, they want to use it as an employment agency for their EFF members, much like the ANC have done across the country – filling posts with cadres, which have crippled service delivery across the country.

We cannot allow the EFF to use Ekurhuleni as a feeding trough, looting the metro through cadre deployment, while the residents cry for mandated service delivery.

The DA has challenged this matter since its inception, and following the brutal attack on DA Councillors we have laid criminal charges against those EFF members. We have also reported the EFF Speaker to Ethics, for her failure to fulfil her roles and responsibilities as the Speaker of Council and protect Councillors and the decorum of the house.

As the DA, we will not allow the doomsday coalition, of the EFF/ANC, to bring the City of Ekurhuleni to its knees.

Issued by Cllr Michael Waters - DA Ekurhuleni Caucus Chief Whip